The title character of Broadway musical”Billy Elliot”is a young British boy who takes ballet lessons in secret, fearful of what friends and family might think.

The Broadway touring production of the show, with music by Elton John, opens Tuesday at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre.

Although the musical is set in the early 1980s, apparently times haven’t changed much when it comes to the stigma of boys and ballet.

“I didn’t tell my friends when I started dancing,” says Blake Kessler, 14, a student at Orlando Ballet School. “I was 7, it really was just not normal. There were no other guys that I danced with. I would have been made fun of.”

Unlike Billy Elliot, who keeps his talent secret from his rough-and-tumble father and brother, Broad at least had support at home. “I did dance in secret, from my friends, but not my parents,” he says.

But even family can’t always be relied on. Orlando Ballet dancer David Kiyak, 21, says his brother had some of the harshest things to say. “He was the biggest criticizer of ballet,” Kiyak says. “In his opinion everyone who dances is feminine.”

Kiyak blames some of that attitude on the environment around them: They boys grew up in the rural South. “I’m from Alabama,” Kiyak says with a sheepish grin. “If you’re not a football player, there’s something wrong with you.”

In the musical, based on the 2000 movie, Billy lives in a down-on-its-luck mining town in the north of England. He uses his ability to dance as an escape from his life. That feeling of escape is something Broad can relate to.

“Not to sound like a cliché, or like Billy Elliot, but I felt free when I danced. That was the reason I started dancing, really,” Broad says. “When I got bullied for dancing, I got to go dance later in the day and it helped wipe the slate clean.”

The guys agree that bullying couldn’t stop them from dancing. “This is first priority,” Acevedo says emphatically.

The three youngest all are schooled at home now, so they can devote more time to their dancing. Their work at the ballet school also provides them with a likeminded circle of friends. “I don’t have friends besides the people in the school,” Kessler says.

The more experienced dancers they encounter also provide hope. “Looking up at older dancers, you know it gets better,” Kessler says.

Adds Kiyak: “When you’re young and feel like the only one, it makes you feel odd. When you reach a certain age, it just doesn’t matter anymore.”